The story of Roger Thornhill, a successful advertising agent, who was mistaken by the bandits for secret agent Kaplan, they brought him to the house, drunk him, put him behind the wheel, hoped that he would crash, but everything worked out (for him, but not for the bandits) and he survived, but got into an even more deplorable situation. He was accused of drunk driving, and all attempts to prove something he was accused of new sins, and then he fled the police to get to the truth and find out who really is Kaplan.
One of the most innovative films of his time... Even before the release of the James Bond films, this is perhaps one of the first super-agent films. And one of his best representatives. Considering the super-agent's involuntarily here. The film reminds me of a series of adventure films about Indiana Jones, only where everything can be done not so exciting (although this is also a controversial issue), but what is much smarter is the fact. It's a great script. Even though I didn't like it. How can you be mistaken for someone you've never seen? I can't understand that. But the rest is great. There are many interesting plot twists, moderate, restrained, in the style of Hitchcock, without any sharpness, but nevertheless forcing to look at what is happening from the other side, to assess the actions of the main characters. To penetrate into the plan of Hitchcock, who clearly draws parallels with war times, which the characters of the film talk about.
There are some brilliant scenes in the film, and with the development of technology at the time, it is simply amazing. I am, of course, first of all talking about the scene of the confrontation between Cary Grant and the Cornman. Although in our time it looks a little old, but not as godlessly outdated as the scenes of the attack of birds in the film of the same director “Birds”. And of course, the lasagna scene on Mount Rushmore. Although it can be seen from some angles that this is a dummy, and that when shooting the image is greatly enlarged, while the actors in their former height were filmed, but still at those times it definitely looks cool.
What a super-agent movie without a cool actor. Cary Grant. After that film, he became one of my favorite actors, and one of my favorite actors of the time. I read somewhere that James Stewart, also one of my favorite actors, was originally cast for this role, but Hitchcock didn’t like the way he played Vertigo and so he put Cary Grant in. I like Cary Grant better, but Stewart did a great job in Vertigo. But it all happened as it happened, and I don't think anyone would have been better suited for the role than Cary Grant. The perfect image of a secret agent. He can play great both comedic and dramatic moments. In general, if Hitchcock had put Stewart in his place, the film would have lost both half of its charm and the atmosphere that Grant created throughout the film.
Well, this movie would be my first Grant movie and my second Hitchcock movie. Now I have 13 Grant films and 12 Hitchcock films, and I’m sure that’s not the limit, but North by Northwest will forever remain in my heart as one of the decisive turns in choosing the films I’m watching right now, and most likely without it there would not be such big numbers as there are now.
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